Bridget Highkin

Bridget Highkin

Baltimore Sun photo by Kenneth K. Lam

Bridget Highkin, 25, a single mother of 4- and 6-year-old sons, pictured at home, earns $3.67 an hour plus tips working as a server at a Cracker Barrel restaurant. However, as the economy slowed, she can no longer earn the usual $800 a week as a waitress, but has to rely on government subsidies and live with her mother to make ends meet. Worker advocates and some state legislators have proposed raising the state minimum wage from $7.25 to $9.75, which would increase server's wage to $7.25 an hour.

Bridget Highkin, 25, a single mother of 4- and 6-year-old sons, pictured at home, earns $3.67 an hour plus tips working as a server at a Cracker Barrel restaurant. However, as the economy slowed, she can no longer earn the usual $800 a week as a waitress, but has to rely on government subsidies and live with her mother to make ends meet. Worker advocates and some state legislators have proposed raising the state minimum wage from $7.25 to $9.75, which would increase server's wage to $7.25 an hour. (Baltimore Sun photo by Kenneth K. Lam)

Bridget Highkin, 25, a single mother of 4- and 6-year-old sons, pictured at home, earns $3.67 an hour plus tips working as a server at a Cracker Barrel restaurant. However, as the economy slowed, she can no longer earn the usual $800 a week as a waitress, but has to rely on government subsidies and live with her mother to make ends meet. Worker advocates and some state legislators have proposed raising the state minimum wage from $7.25 to $9.75, which would increase server's wage to $7.25 an hour.